Employers wishing to recruit migrant workers will have to pay €180 per application from next year, Flemish Employment minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) has announced.
Until now, it has been relatively inexpensive for employers to recruit workers from outside the EU via the Single Permit system.
Through this system, the person is granted a combined permit authorising them to live and work in Belgium. More than 21,000 non-European migrant workers were employed in 2025 in Flanders.
Demir thinks Flemish employers should first help local people find jobs before looking to the rest of Belgium, Europe and elsewhere. She introduced stricter measures on 1 January, which barred low-skilled migrants from outside the EU from entering. Access for medium-skilled workers has been severely restricted.
Since 1 January, the number of applications for medium-skilled workers has fallen by 61 %. At the same time, the number of applications for highly skilled workers – the category Demir wishes to attract to Flanders – has risen by 12 %.
From 2027, employers will be charged an additional fee of €180 euros per application to cover administrative costs.
“Anyone wishing to recruit migrant workers will bear the financial responsibility themselves. It is not up to the people of Flanders to bear this cost,” Demir said. “That makes sense. But above all, it is fair and keeps the system healthy.”
Combined permits came under fire in 2022, when it emerged that workers were working illegally and for very low wages for chemicals giant Borealis in the Port of Antwerp.
They were recognised as victims of human trafficking. A year later, De Morgen reported on an investigation into fraud involving combined permits in Türkiye. Additional rules were then introduced to protect migrant workers.
‘Rigid’ labour market
Employers’ organisation Voka is disappointed with the new fee. “To apply for a combined permit, a fee of €152 must already be paid to the Federal Immigration Office,” Gianni Duvillier, labour market expert at Voka, told De Morgen.
“Now there are additional Flemish fees of €180 on top of that. That is cumbersome, especially as it can already take up to 15 weeks for an application to be processed.”
According to Duvillier, the principle that employers must first recruit locally and only then look further afield is “a theoretical approach that does not reflect reality” as the Flemish labour market is “too rigid”.
New rules came into force in 2026 that restrict how long unemployed people can receive benefits. “With the time limit on unemployment benefits, we must first give our Flemish workers a chance,” Demir said. “That is only fair. And that fairness now also starts with the bill. Those who use the system must contribute to its proper functioning.”
